Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Would you rather comply with the individual mandate or be auto-enrolled in a health plan (with a chance to opt out)?

Would you rather have a job that was flexible but boring, or interesting but rigid? Thankfully, as the Editor of EBN, I get the best of both worlds — this job is both flexible and interesting. But if I absolutely had to choose, I would pick a flexible boring job every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

An online poll, taken by Harris Interactive on behalf of Unum, found larger numbers of workers age 18 to 32 say they are extremely or very familiar with retirement accounts, disability insurance and life insurance.

According to a report in Fiduciary News, Rochester, N.Y. radio talk show host Bob Lonsberry recently was mid-rant against the state’s pension policies and called 401(k)s a Ponzi scheme and labeled them the cause of the recent stock market crash and future crashes. Oh my.

Just picture my head on Uncle Sam’s body, because EBN wants you — and I won’t take no for an answer! This year, for EBN's annual “Preparing for Open Enrollment” series, we’re coming to you for your tips on ways to improve the open enrollment process.

This afternoon, the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) will meet to discuss the retirement security crisis — specifically, how to help Americans save more for retirement and make better saving decisions.

Today, the Center for Health Value Innovation released its 2010 Value-Based Design Report, which takes the national temperature on how value-based benefits designs are progressing in U.S. workplaces.

On Monday, yet another federal judge ruled that the individual mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. However, unlike his Virginia counterpart, Henry E. Hudson, who only struck down PPACA’s requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance, Florida District Court Judge Robert Vinson ruled that PPACA on the whole is illegal.

It sounds like all you have to do to escape complying with the reform provision that bars annual limits on health coverage is: A. Offer a mini-med plan and B. Apply for a waiver freeing your plan from coverage limits.

As you know, for tax year 2011, PPACA requires employers to report the aggregate cost of health coverage on employees’ W-2s. When the IRS released instructions for reporting the information the agency left out one teensy little detail: how employers are supposed to calculate the amount spent! Duh.